


The Search for Kenobi

by UnstableAnxiety



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Darth Vader - Freeform, Gen, Light Side, Obi-Wan Kenobi - Freeform, Palpatine - Freeform, Star Wars - Freeform, Tatooine (Star Wars), dark side
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24499213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnstableAnxiety/pseuds/UnstableAnxiety
Summary: Stricken by revenge, Darth Vader goes on a quest to find and kill his old master, but in doing so, it leads him to a place he never wanted to visit again.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	1. The Search for Kenobi

Darth Vader stood at the edge of the balcony, reminiscing his old life. His Padme.

The fields of Naboo, where he fell and pretended to be hurt. The arena at Geonosis, where they fought side by side. Tatooine, where he slaughtered all of the sand people. Even then, he still had hope. Hope that maybe one day, he could save the ones he loved, but in the end, he wasn’t strong enough. At least so he thought. _If Kenobi hadn’t shown up, I could have saved Padme._ Even though he choked her, he knew he didn’t kill her. He felt her. He was going to apologize later; after he had killed Kenobi. He could’ve won her back, but he never realized that once the love of his life saw him as Darth Vader, she had lost all love for him. She could not see Anakin Skywalker anymore.

It had been three days since he entered the suit, and he still found himself not used to it. He supposed it was a big change to go from a human with flesh to a cyborg. _Like Grievous,_ he thought.

He gritted his teeth, though no one could see it. He was a shell of his former self. _I was strong, agile. I could have overthrown the Emperor, but Kenobi…_

Vader clenched his fist, the sound of rubber tearing from his gauntlets as pieces of furniture started to levitate above the ground, plates and tables following suit. _Kenobi… Kenobi… Kenobi!_ he repeated in his mind. Shards from the now broken plates flew around the room, hitting everything in sight. He didn’t even know he was doing it. _It’s all his fault!_

“Sir!”

He slowly turned and saw Commander Fox standing at the door in his red and white uniform, his head upward looking at all the flying debris. Vader let out a silent sigh as everything fell to the floor. “What is it?”

“The Emperor wishes to see you.”

Darth Vader entered through the senate doors, approaching his master, who sat in his new chair, staring out onto the streets of Coruscant. It gave off the image of ‘Ruler of the galaxy.’ The room smelled like fresh lavender, ironic considering who the Emperor was.

He bent onto one knee, his reflection showing in the newly installed window that broke during the fight with Mace. The red holograms lowered into the floor, allowing Vader to see his master. “Yes, my master?”

Sidious stood up, his red robe flowing side to side as he did. “Lord Vader.” With a large, dark grin, he said. “Our Empire is complete at last.”

“Yes, my Lord. We have won.”

“Yes… we have _won._ ” His smile turned into a frown as he glared at the former Jedi Knight through the mirror’s reflection. “But the Jedi still live. Kenobi, Yoda, others. They still harbor themselves in the galaxy. They must be found!”

“How do you suppose we do that?”

“Yoda will be hard to find, but Kenobi…” the Sith lord turned to Vader, pointing his frail-ghost like finger at him. “Search your feelings, Lord Vader. You know where _he_ is hiding.”

Vader paused, looking up at his new master. “I’m not sure what you mean, master.”

“Kenobi!” he screamed. “You know where Kenobi is hiding if you focus hard enough.”

“I—”

“Concentrate Lord Vader! Focus your mind…”

Vader shut his eyes, doing as his master instructed. He closed off everything and anything around him. The sounds of footsteps coming from outside the room, the beeping of the computers, all of it he excluded allowing only the force to flow through his mind.

He saw blackness, a void. He focused harder but still saw nothing but that same void. “I don’t see anything,” he told his master.

His master extended his hand, shooting bolts of electricity at his apprentice.

“Aghhhh!!” Vader screamed in anguish.

“You are a worthless apprentice. You couldn’t beat Kenobi. You let him turn you into a shell of your former self. I should have let you die.” Sidious pulled back his arm, stopping his attack. Vader fell to the floor, taking shaky, shallow breaths—along with coughing— as he tried to collect himself. Sidious frowned at his apprentice. “Get up, Lord Vader.”

Vader pulled himself upward, hunching his back and lowering his chin, “I am sorry, my master.”

Sidious snarled. “Go to your quarters and come to me when you find the answer!”

Vader lowered his head to the floor, and with a scowling expression, he said, “Yes, my lord.” He stood up and approached the door but not before turning back at his master, who didn’t look at him, then leaving.

He walked through the gray metal doors that led into his quarters. It was nothing special: a bland white room, a white floor made up of tiles, and four white walls. A single, large bacta tank laid in the middle of the room; wires and cords leading from the bacta tank and going into the holes in the walls.

A mechanical droid named Proxy approached the young Sith Lord. He had built in artificial yellow eyes. “Are you ready for extraction my Lord?” he asked.

“Yes,” he said, laying himself onto the table the medical droids brought out. One by one the droids detached his black metallic armor, putting the pieces into a symmetrical order onto a different table. Vader looked at his reflection through one of the droid’s skin. He still wasn’t used to his new look.

“Will you be staying long, master?” Proxy asked.

“No,” he replied.

“Very well. I will get your tank ready.”

A few moments passed as Darth Vader was being attached to a variety of different pulleys. “This will pinch my Lord.” A medical droid said. He unclamped the stitching on Vader’s mask, peeling it off, along with bits of his skin. “Hold your breath.” Twenty seconds passed by as he waited for a breathing mask to be attached to him. _These droids are taking a long time,_ he thought. His eyes began to water as his blood began thumping in his temples. Small flutters in the lungs stabbed throughout his chest. It felt as his lungs might burst at any second. “Here you go, my Lord,” a medical droid told him as he attached a breathing mask on him. Something that was so unaware to a person, a function they did on automatic, had to be sustained by machines for him.

The droids heaved him over the swirling water. It was clear and shined brighter than a diamond. _Like the earrings Padme used to wear,_ he thought. Everything reminded him of her.

Proxy pointed at the other droids that stationed themselves by a large lever, “Now.” Slowly, they turned a crank, lowering Vader into the water. The cool rush of the water quickly filled every hole and crevice that embodied Vader. It was a welcome feeling to the young Sith. “Close the lid,” ordered Proxy.

_Thump_

“Everything is ready, my Lord,” Proxy said. “I wish you luck.”

“There is no luck, only the force.” He shut his eyes, using the bacta’s tank ability to concentrate deeper into the force.

Again, he saw nothing. It was total blackness. _What?_ he asked himself. _What am I supposed to find?_

His master’s words echoed through his head. _“You know where Kenobi is hiding if you focus hard enough.”_ He didn’t know what that meant, however. The galaxy was far and wide; how could he know where Obi-Wan Kenobi was hiding.

He focused harder, and still, he saw nothing, but Vader was nothing if not relentless. “If I can’t see,” he told himself. “I will use my other senses.” He fell back onto his primal instincts. “If one could not see, he will hear. If he cannot hear, then he will feel.” This method, however, seemed to show results.

He could hear the sounds of dust blowing in the wind. Particles felt like it was hitting him even though there was nothing there. A familiar heat bathed on him. He had felt this heat many times before, but he couldn’t exactly figure out from where. Planets ran through his mind. “Mustafar… no. Geonosis….. no.” He couldn’t figure out where. “Jakk—”

He stopped. It was like he was teleported to a place all he could do was watch. He had no arms, no legs, no body.

“What are you doing?” a young Anakin asked.

“Checking your blood for infections,” Qui-Gon tells him. Vader smirked. If only he knew then what Qui-Gon was actually testing. He was teleported once more, but this time he didn’t see Qui-Gon; instead it was the burial site of his mother. A place he never wanted to visit again.

He clenched his fists, which could only be seen through the tanks. The droids looked at one another, wondering what his master was seeing.

“These locations…” he said to himself. “It can’t be…”

Like a flash, he was teleported onto a beach, but he didn’t see any water. Two suns shined down upon him. He ran his hand through the sand—something he despised on the level of Obi-Wan. He grasped it in his hand, smelling it, squeezing before opening his hand and letting it slowly fall back into its place. The sand was familiar to him. To anyone, all sand felt the same, but to him, it was different. He could sense a lifetime of events just by touching it, but this sand, he knew where it was from. “Tatooine,” he muttered in distaste.

Buildings made out of sand started to appear around the young Sith. Places he had been before when he was just a child. His old home, where he was enslaved by Watto. The Hutt palace, the small town where he and his mother frequented, but there was a building that appeared that he had never seen before. A small disfigured hut.

He walked up to the building, slowly caressing the badly built wooden door.

Vader walked in slowly, cautious and inspecting everything and anything around him. Inside was a man in a Jedi cloak, cleaning a familiar lightsaber. Upon closer inspection, Vader realized it was _his_ old lightsaber.

The figure stopped, slowly turning his head to stare at Vader. “You…” Vader stopped in his tracks. “I thought I killed you.”

“Who are you?!” Vader demanded.

The cloaked figure stood up, taking off his hood to reveal a tired Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Vader stammered back, almost losing his balance. “You…” he stuttered. He was barely able to catch himself. He planted his feet firmly, “You…” he said strictly.

“Oh, Anakin,” he said solemnly. “What did they do to you?”

“You did this!” Vader yelled.

“I had no choice, Anakin. What you had become… I had to.”

“I will kill you!” he screamed. Vader lunged at his old master. Obi-Wan put out his arm and used all his strength to force push Vader out of the hut.

Vader awoke in his bacta tank. Proxy walked up to him, “Did you find the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi, my Lord?”

He muttered out the word, “Yes.”

“Very good, my Lord. Where is he located?”

He snarled, “Tatooine.”


	2. Ilum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vader has found the location of his old master but before he can go and face him, he must assemble his lightsaber.

Vader walked into his master’s quarters and bowed onto one knee. “Master.”

“What is it, Lord Vader?” Sidious snarled.

“I have found the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Sidious grinned a smile that could go all the way to his ears. “Have you now?” he mocked. “Where do you _think_ Obi-Wan Kenobi is hiding?”

Vader looked up at his master, and without any emotion in his voice, he said, “Tatooine.”

He leaned back as if he was almost surprised. “So, you _have_ found the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Good.” He walked up to his apprentice and patted him on the shoulder. “I am very proud of you, my apprentice.” He smiled, but somehow, Vader felt it wasn’t genuine.

“I am ready, my master. I will go kill Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“Will you now?” Sidious mocked once more. “And how will you kill him with no lightsaber?”

Vader looked down onto his belt, reaching for where his lightsaber should have of been. “No matter. I will find him and kill him with my bare hands if I have to.”

“You must be patient, my apprentice. Obi-Wan Kenobi will not leave Tatooine, but if you go there halfcocked, then you will be killed by him. You will lose once again.”

“How can you be sure he won’t leave?”

“I have foreseen it. He plans to stay on Tatooine for a purpose. What that purpose is, I do not know, but we must find out what it is and kill him. That is why you need a lightsaber.”

He gritted his teeth. He knew his master was right, though he didn’t want to admit it. “Then what must I do, my master?”

“Assemble a lightsaber. Go to Ilum and find your lightsaber crystal. Once you find it, contact me.”

Vader lowered his head deferentially, “Yes, my master.”

* * *

A few hours had passed as Vader waited for Proxy to get everything ready for their trip to Ilum. It was one of the longest few hours of his life. Almost as long as when he was being burned alive on Mustafar and taken to Coruscant to be turned into the machine he is now. He just yearned for the moment when his lightsaber pierced Obi-Wan’s skin, killing him. He wanted to look him in the eyes and watch his soul leave his body and listen as he took his final breath.

Proxy came over his wrist comm, “Everything is ready for our trip to Ilum,” he told the young Sith Lord. “I have our ship ready in the main hanger.”

Vader walked relentlessly to the hanger, wasting not even a single second.

His ship waited for him at the end of the hanger. He could see Proxy in the distance, but barely. Other ships were coming in and out of the hanger. It was a busy space. It was after all, the hanger of the senate building.

Proxy stood in front of his master’s ship waiting patiently for his master’s arrival and when he saw him walking towards him, he knew it was time. “My lord, we are ready.”

“Good,” Vader said, quickly. “Let us go.” Proxy nodded and headed inside the ship, starting it up. Vader followed suit, his determination at an all-time high. “Soon, Kenobi.”

* * *

Space travel was boring, even for a droid. Proxy would much rather have stayed on Coruscant but the Emperor wanted him to go with Vader. He didn’t say why but he assumed it was to keep Vader on course; so, he wouldn’t go looking for Obi-Wan before he constructed his lightsaber. “Why I had to be assigned to the gloomiest Sith Lord in the galaxy, only my creators would know. And why did he have to have such a _lame_ name? Why not _Darth Starkiller_ or something like that. Now that is a Sith name!”

“Proxy!” Vader’s voice came over the intercom.

He jumped, “L-Lord Vader! How can I help you?” If Proxy could sweat, there would be sweat dripping down his mechanical body right now.

“How far are we from Ilum?” Proxy looked down at the blue sensor that laid between the pilot’s seat and the co-pilot’s seat.

“Not too far my Lord. Should be there within the hour.”

“Contact me when we are there.”

“Yes, my Lord.” The comm shut off. Proxy let off a slight sigh. He was relieved Vader didn’t overhear what he was saying earlier. “I guess Sith Lords can’t overhear conversations,” he said, letting off a nervous laugh.

_One hour later_

The sensors started beeping, alerting Proxy that they had arrived. He turned them off and looked up. The icy blue planet laid before him. Some used to call this planet _The beginnings of the Jedi_ or _The Planet of the crystals_. They weren’t so far off. The planet was full of lightsaber crystals and it was where younglings went to retrieve those crystals and later go on to become Jedi. After all, what is a Jedi without their lightsaber?

The silver metallic droid pressed the button that relayed to the ship’s comm. “Lord Vader, we have arrived.”

The Imperial shuttle made its descent onto the planet’s surface. Loud, sharp crackling came from all sides of the ship. The ship began to rock back and forth as Proxy lost control of the ship’s steering. “Dang it!” he shouted. “Lord Vader, we are in the middle of a snow storm! I have to land away from it!” He turned the ship around, flying as far away as he could from the storm. As the snow lessened their attack on the ship, Proxy knew they were far enough. He slowed down their speed and began descending onto the planet’s surface.

There was a distinct rattle all pilots heard when they landed their ships. It was an all too familiar sound to the Sith Lord. It reminded him of the days when he was Anakin Skywalker. _No._ he thought. _He is dead. I am Darth Vader._

Proxy’s voice came over the intercom. “My Lord, we are landing now.”

_Finally,_ he thought. _I am close!_ He was ready to retrieve his crystal and go kill his old master. That was all he wanted in his life. To kill the one he felt was responsible for all his misery. To kill the one who took Padme away from him. He blamed it all on Obi-Wan. _It’s all his fault. All his fault!_ He clenched his fists, _All his fault!_

“Sir?” Vader was jumped out of his thoughts. He had no idea how much time had passed since Proxy told him they were landing. “We have landed.”

Vader stepped onto the icy crust, his boot shattering the ice below him. “Wait here,” he ordered Proxy. “I won’t be long,” he thought that was the truth.

“As you wish, my Lord.” Proxy began his walk back into the ship as Vader began his walk towards his crystal, both silently saying goodbye to one another until their eventual return.

The one thing that went through Vader’s mind as he walked off was, _I am coming, Kenobi._

* * *

Vader walked for who knew how long. He had no idea where he was going but he let the force guide him. He felt as he needed to go northeast, so he went northeast, towards the snowstorm.

The snow pellets slowly hit his body, melting upon impact. As he got closer to the storm however, the small tiny pellets of snow began to bombard Vader. A few minutes after that, he found himself going against the full might of the storm. Every step he took buried deep into the ground, every breath he inhaled felt cold and dry. The snow blinded him from seeing anything in front of him. If it wasn’t for the force, he would be completely lost.

He saw a tiny glimmer in the distance. Upon clearing his visor, he saw something that was tall but not too wide. It looked just like a pillar, standing in front of what appeared to be an outpost. He walked closer and when he could see more clearly, he realized it wasn’t an outpost but something much bigger. “There it is,” he said. A giant blue castle laid only a few hundred feet before him. In his heart, he knew that was where he needed to go. He made his way towards it.

The castle was as tall as a giant, maybe taller. Though Vader had never seen a giant before, he could only imagine. Vader took his hand and placed it upon the castle itself. His eyes widened, “Ice.” The entire castle was made of ice. He had been here before when he was just a padawan— when he was Anakin—but he didn’t know then that the entire structure was made of ice. His only focus then was getting his saber, just like his focus now.

This castle was a monument to the Jedi—like the Jedi Temple. They represented the golden age of the Jedi. Now, they serve as a grim reminder of their failures. He took in a deep breath and walked inside.

The inside of the castle was just like the outside. Blue and enormous. It reined almost a hundred feet high. “The Jedi loved to show off,” he mocked. “It was what led to their downfall.”

On the other side of the room laid a giant ice wall—with some sort of crystal… or maybe a gem on top of it. It had a white outer casing. Above him laid a giant crystal in some sort of mechanism, with another smaller crystal attached to the same mechanism but laid a few feet away from the bigger crystal. The strange machine held both crystals in place, like a chandelier. All around the room laid giant pillars leading up to what appeared to be sundial passageways that circled around the two crystals. They were to let the sunlight in. That was the key. “Sunlight.”

When Anakin was a youngling, he witnessed Yoda using sunlight to unlock the ice wall that led to the cave full of crystals. He would do the same.

He extended his arm, opening one of the sundials to let the sunlight in. The beam from the sun hit the bigger crystal, splitting into six different rays. Vader extended his other arm, using the force to turn the giant crystal. The beam moved ever so slowly until finally, it met with the smaller crystal, going through it and being reflected onto the gem above the ice wall.

In a split second, the wall made of ice turned into a waterfall.

Vader took a step, pausing underneath the water. He punched the wall next to him and screamed, “KENOBI!!!” He couldn’t feel the water. He was expecting to but had forgotten he was a machine. “I will kill you, Kenobi,” he said softly, his voice shaking with rage. “I will kill you.” He stepped in the cave, anger radiating off him, breathing heavily until he heard something that made him stop once more.

“GRRAAUUUUUU!!!!”

Something was in here with him.


	3. Vader Vs the Giant Ice Monster!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The entrance to the crystal cave is open, but when Vader walks in, he finds out that lightsaber crystals aren't the only things in here.

A set of old, iced cracked steps leading downwards laid before Vader. They led deeper into the icy cove. Vader almost slipped when he took his first step. He slowed down and recollected himself. He grazed his pointer finger on the stairs and noticed how easily his finger slid. The stairs felt as if they were polished just recently, though no one had been in here since the Jedi fell.

Chandeliers hung from the celling shined light to brighten his way.

He stepped slowly, taking caution with each step. Even though the path down was treacherous, Vader did not deter. He did not let his goal out of sight. This whole time he thought of his old master and how he would feel when he killed him. It was what got him through the storm, and it is what will get him through whatever was in this cave.

It Vexed Vader that he had to be back here, back in the essence of the Jedi. “Everything always brings me back to them,” he said. “To the Jedi.”

Everything around him was made of ice, which didn’t surprise him. The planet was practically made of ice.

Not another sound came from inside the cave during the time he had been walking. Not a roar, not a scratch. Only Vader’s breathing endured. He would wheeze, and it would echo, he would wheeze again, then it would echo.

After about ten minutes, he still was descending downward. After thirty, he was at the bottom. He looked back behind him, knowing well that that was the easy part. He looked around, eyeing all corners, the ceiling, the ground below him, and the massive gateway in front of him. It led to the start of the cove, where all the crystals were.

He stepped through, and his eyes immediately widened. There were hundreds and hundreds of crystals all around him: on the sides of the walls, hundreds of feet above him. They were everywhere. “Where do I begin?” Vader asked himself.

He sat onto the floor, crossing his legs and his arms. His eyes shut slowly, and he began meditating. He connected to the force but felt nothing. He tried again, but this time, he used his pain, torment, and his hatred to conjure up anything he could use to find _his_ crystal, but again, he saw nothing. All he saw was the blackness that ensued when he closed his eyes. He grunted and opened his eyes, looking around, eyeing all the crystals that laid in their resting place, and closed them once more. When he saw the darkness once more, he stood up.

He strolled slowly down the icy halls, eyeing as many crystals to find his own. He felt nothing. When he was Anakin, he had known he found his crystal when the force was calling him. Now, he felt nothing but emptiness.

The tunnels went on forever. They zig-zagged left, then right, then left again. Vader found this redundant. He came upon two tunnels, one leading left and the other leading right. He chose right. He entered through the tunnel, leaving the light from the cave behind him.

It was dark and Vader could see nothing. The tunnel was barely taller than he was. He stepped cautiously, not wanting to get caught on a rock or anything else that might be lying on the floor. After a few minutes of walking, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He stepped through but as soon as he did, he stopped. He felt the force calling to him but it was coming from all around him. He didn’t know what it was trying to say.

“GRRRRAAAAAAWWWWWW!!”

A giant ice troll broke through the ice below him. Vader was plunged to the back wall. The troll was twenty feet high.

He stood up quickly and attempted to dodge an incoming punch from the giant monster but was still struck by it.

He staggered up, caressing the three new cracks in his suit. His breathing was heavy but was sounded out by the troll’s screaming. Its eyes were filled with rage.

Another punch came at Vader, and he attempted to dodge it but was hit once more. He was expecting to jump at least twenty feet but got no further than four. Again, he forgot he was only half a man. He wasn’t agile anymore.

The troll picked Vader up and threw him against the wall multiple times then onto the ground. Vader dragged himself to his feet but was immediately grabbed by the giant monster. He squeezed Vader. It felt as his insides were being crunched together. His suit was breaking into pieces. His surroundings started to darken. He tried to push himself out of the beast’s grasp, but the beast only squeezed harder.

Images of his past began to flurry his mind. Tatooine, when he left his mother. Coruscant, where he indirectly killed Mace Windu. The Jedi Temple, where he trained day and night to become a Jedi Master but was declined its rank in the end. Padme’s home, when they used to have dinners just by themselves. No war. No bickering senators. No Obi-Wan. _Obi-Wan… Obi-Wan!_ His anger and resentment skyrocketed. He screamed in rage, force pushing the giant off of him and into the ceiling. Vader watched as his body slowly hit the floor.

They both stood up simultaneously and charged at one another. The troll threw a punch while at the same time Vader extended his hand, stopping the punch. He turned his hand upside down, causing the troll to get onto his knees. Vader walked closer and closer to the troll using the dark side to forcibly bring the troll down to Vader’s level. It was staggering, struggling. It’s once rage like eyes had turned into fear as Vader stared it down until finally, he cracked its neck.

The beast fell onto the floor, lifeless and limp. Vader stood atop it, celebrating in his victory over the monster.

_*Crack* *Crack*_

Cracks began to form around him and the now-dead monster. Before Vader could react, the floor gave away; plunging him and the corpse of the troll hundreds of feet downward.

There was nothing Vader could do. He was falling. Air brushed against him, and he could see the ground coming closer and closer. The dead body of the ice troll plunged below him, his weight causing him to fall faster than Vader. This gave Vader an idea.

He guided himself over the troll, and when the troll hit the ground, Vader fell atop of it. He stood up without a scratch, other than the ones he received from his fight with the ice creature. His breathing was shallow and his left cybernetic leg had been damaged.

In front of him stood a tall waterfall. It was clear and pure; it was beautiful. Below it sat a pile of rocks, on top of them sat a crystal.

The force called to him. It startled him. He could feel the fear that crystal held. Its anger. Its torment. It had been down here all alone for eons waiting for someone to find it. There was a crack going through the middle. It was imperfect, like Vader.

Vader knew this was his crystal. Just like when he was a youngling, it called to him. He smiled. He was one step closer to killing his master. “Finally.” He took it from its resting place and made his way back to his ship.

* * *

Proxy sat with his head down on the edge of the ship, awaiting his master’s return. It had been a full rotation since he saw him and he started to wonder whether or not he perished trying to get his crystal. “What a way to go,” he mocked. “Dying trying to get a stupid crystal!”

“Proxy.”

He jumped up, “My—My Lord! I didn’t see you coming!”

“Start the ship.”

“Yes, my Lord!” Proxy ran inside while Vader followed slowly behind him. He took the ship into orbit.

“Master?” Vader said, bowing. Sidious sat in his chair in his black robe.

“Lord Vader. Have you found your crystal?”

“Yes, I have.” Vader took the crystal out of his pocket, showing his prize to his master.

Sidious let off a mischievous grin, “Good. I am very proud of you, my apprentice. Now, all that is left is to craft your lightsaber.”

Vader froze. If his master could see his expression right now, he would belittle him. Mock him for forgetting the most important step; the actual construction of his lightsaber. He was so proud of his achievement that it blinded him from everything else. “Yes, my Lord. I will come to Coruscant to construct my new lightsaber.”

“No.”

“No?” he asked.

“You have everything you need on your ship. After you construct your lightsaber, go and find Kenobi. Make sure you bring him back alive.”

Vader bowed once more, “Yes, my master. But what do you mean I have everything on the ship?”

Proxy entered the room, and both Sidious and Vader turned to him. At that moment, Vader knew what his master meant.

The transmission cut off and Proxy asked, “Where to next, My Lord?”


	4. Lightsaber Formed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vader finally retrieves his crystal but now, he has an even harder job on him; the formation of his lightsaber.

Vader extended his arm and grabbed Proxy by the force.

“Master?” Proxy asked, floating in the air.

“I have need of your _services_.”

He gripped his fist and broke Proxy into a bunch of different pieces. He felt no remorse, no guilt. In his mind, it was all for an end goal.

He sat onto the metal floor of the ship, setting his lightsaber crystal in front of him. Vader slowly closed his eyes and began concentrating onto his crystal, but he soon realized he didn’t know what to do. His master hadn’t given him any instructions. Probably on purpose to see what his apprentice could accomplish without him, Vader deemed.

He began meditating into the crystal, focusing on its aura. It was like there were three lines in his mind all wavy. One on the left, one in the middle, and one in the right. The longer he meditated and focused on the crystal, the closer the left and right ones came to each other. They became closer and closer, and Vader found himself struggling to keep his focus. Soon, before Vader realized, they were just an inch away from another. He was so close to taming his lightsaber.

“BLEED!”

Vader jumped up, unintentionally grabbing his waist for a lightsaber but found nothing. “Who was that?” he asked himself.

He stood silent for a few moments. When nothing happened, he sat back down.

“I will not be frightened away.” He began meditating again, matching the crystal’s aura once more.

“BLEED!” He opened his eyes once more. It felt as the voice was coming from the crystal like it was talking to him, but how could a mere crystal have a voice, he thought.

He grabbed it.

The word bleed echoed throughout his mind. “What do you mean _bleed_?”

“Bleed with anger…” it echoed.

He still didn’t know what that meant. “Bleed with anger…” it echoed throughout his mind until suddenly, he had an idea.

He crossed his legs once more and began focusing on his anger, onto his hatred. Obi-wan, the Jedi, the separatists; they were all things he despised. It made his blood boil and his heart pump with tremendous force; it was like a shockwave went throughout his whole body. He grinded his teeth as his anger intensified.

He could feel the same from the crystal, its anger. It had been forgotten for centuries. All it wanted was to belong, feel appreciated, and help people but like Vader; it was all taken it away from its grasp.

He opened his eyes, but it felt as he wasn’t there.

He awoke and saw a giant crystal before him with a crack going through the middle, just like the crystal he had just retrieved.

It was calling to him like it was hypnotizing him.

“Bleed. Bleed. Bleed.” Those words echoed throughout his vision.

He walked up to it, placing both his mechanical hands onto it to inspect it.

His anger, hatred, resentment, and sadness; poured from his soul and into the giant crystal slowly, like a liquid. It was like food coloring dropping in water. It turned it from its once clear color to pure red.

He awoke. The crystal was red. It was bled with Vader’s anger and hatred.

With the force, he dragged the broken bits of Proxy’s body and had them float in midair and began assembling it in a way the Jedi had thought him. After all, it was the same method for both Jedi and Sith.

He grabbed a power cell from Proxy’s body; and then made a casing using his broken arms and legs. Using wires from his body, he wrapped it around the inner and outer shell of his lightsaber casing. With one quick swoop, he put all the pieces together with the force.

A tiny hole was left for a lever and a button. He picked one out from Proxy’s body and placed them in, slowly putting the lightsaber onto the ground.

He grabbed it, inspecting each crevice. It was a crude and simple job, by no means his final design. It was rigid, dull, and murky, far from being the weapon of a Sith.

He put his hand on the button, caressing it for a moment until he pressed it.

The lightsaber powered on, making a swoosh sound but no beam came out until a second later, the beam blared out of the casing, turning on and off a few times, until it was a solid red color.

 _Finally,_ he thought. He was done. He had his lightsaber.

He turned on the hologram and bowed onto one knee, “Master.”

Sidious appeared, “Have you done it?” He grabbed his lightsaber from his waist and ignited it—blood red. Sidious did a malicious grin, “Good. You are now a true Sith, my apprentice.”

“Thank you, my master.”

“Now, go to Tatooine and find Kenobi and capture him. We need him alive.” Vader scowled at that request. He’d much rather kill his old master, cut off each of his body parts first to make him feel how he felt every day, then kill him with his own bare hands, feeling as his breathe slowly dissipated until finally, there was nothing but his lifeless corpse in his hands. “My apprentice.”

Vader was flown out of his thoughts. He quickly looked up. “Yes, master?”

“I can feel your distaste. Speak.”

Vader paused for a second, not knowing if he should speak or not, but the look on his master’s face made him feel like he had no choice but to. “Master, why not just kill him?”

Sidious snarled, “You never see the big picture, my apprentice. In my vision, I saw Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine but not because he was hiding, but because he had a purpose. A way to take our Empire down. We need to find out what that is, then we can kill him.”

Vader sighed quickly, pressing his lips together and dropping his head. “If it is what you wish, then I shall execute it.”

“Good. After we find out his purpose, you can kill him.” Vader grinned at that. “And why stop there, why not torture him for the rest of his days? Give him complete agony.” Vader didn’t answer. “Just a thought to have on your mind, my friend. Make him suffer as he did you.” The transmission cut off.

He gripped his lightsaber and said, “I am coming, Kenobi.”

He walked up the nav computer and set his course to Tatooine. His eyes were pure yellow, and his determination high. He was ready.

With one pull of the lever, the ship went into lightspeed.


	5. Tatooine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With his new lightsaber, Vader has made his way to Tatooine, where his old master is hiding. Consumed by rage for his old friend, he will stop at nothing to find him and eliminate him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, I know its been a while since my last upload. I have been working on a project which I started in August and just now finished on January 3, 2021. 2020 hasn't been the best year for a lot of us but something that always pushed me to keep moving forward was writing. My point is to keep trying no matter how hard things get AND do the things you love. That's something I learned last year. Life is too short to do the things that others want than what you want. Anyway, I wont take too much of your time. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and if you have any suggestions on how I can improve, please let me know. Thank you and have a nice rest of your day/night!

It was like being surprised by someone hiding from you. That was what he felt when the ship came out of lightspeed and hovered over the desert planet.

Tatooine.

He swore to himself he would never come back here. “This wretched place…” he gripped his fists. The control console began to bend into shapes it was never meant to. Metal panels ripped from their screws, their screws flying to the opposite walls, and being thrown around like a ragdoll.

“Lord Vader.”

Just like how he felt when he arrived on the planet, he was surprised once more. “Master…”

“Calm yourself, Vader. Kenobi is down there, and we mustn’t lose focus.”

“I understand, my master.”

“Do you?” he snarled, glaring at the young Sith Lord like the look Windu used to give Anakin Skywalker when he did something he didn’t approve. “You are letting your anger blind you, you incompetent fool.”

Vader did not reply.

“Use your anger at the right moment, my apprentice. Uncontrolled rage will lead you to nothing but continuous failures. Focus your anger, channel it, and use it when the time is right.”

He bowed slightly in his chair, “Yes, my master. I will not fail you.”

“We will see.” Sidious’s hologram dissipated into the holoprojector.

His yellow eyes looked down onto the planet below, “Kenobi.”

He grabbed the ship’s steering and descended toward the planet.

The force beckoned him to Mos Espa, where the young Anakin Skywalker and his mother Shmi Skywalker lived as slaves.

He landed at a small docking station that was full of all kinds of ships: a transport, a Skiff, a landspeeder. The natives wanted Vader to pay a fee to dock, but when he started to force choke one of them, the others ran away in fear leaving their comrade to die by the dark lord.

It had been a long time since he had been in Mos Espa, too long. He never wanted to come back here again, but no matter how hard he tried, he always ended up here.

He walked into town, noticing the glares of all the residents, who were either trying to sell something at their stands or walking by with crates full of supplies or food, that turned to look at the machine in black, then their obvious look away when Vader looked back at them.

They all had the same look; sad and tired.

The buildings remained the same, made of mud, plaster, and sandstone. Cracks ran up and down the walls looking like the buildings could collapse at any moment and the material had been so old, so dried up by the heat of the sun that it crumbled in Vader’s hand by the slightest touch. This place hadn’t changed at all, but he had.

A group of hoodlums stood at a wall, catcalling the passing woman. There were three of them, no more than sixteen or seventeen years old. Vader walked up to them.

“I am looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Have you seen him?”

“Daang, you’re a cyborg. I’ve never seen one of you before,” one of the teenagers said, coming up to Vader and touching his suit.

“Do not touch me.”

The three teenagers began to laugh.

“And what are you going to do about it? one of them said.

“Can you even think on your own, you stupid machine?” He pounded on Vader’s suit. “See, he won’t do—”

“AHHHH!”

His arm fell to the floor, Vader’s lightsaber crackled its bright red. The other two teenagers scurried before him. “Obi-Wan Kenobi, have you seen him?”

“No—no! I don’t know who you’re talking about!” One of the teenagers cried. “Please don’t kill us. We’re sorry!”

Two guards came running up, covered in face masks, cloaks, and each holding a stick with a metal blade at the end.

“A Jedi?” one of the guards said.

“I am no Jedi. I am Sith.” They stepped back. “I am on official Empire business. Leave us or receive a faith worse than death.”

The two guards looked at each other, and before any words were exchanged, they turned their tails and ran.

Vader looked back onto the three kids who begged for him not to kill them.

“The cantina!” one of them yelled. “Maybe someone at the cantina has seen the person you’re looking for!”

He disengaged his lightsaber and put it back on his hilt, studying for a moment the three kids. It would take nothing to snap their necks... nothing. “Leave.”

The teenagers helped their friend up, collected his arm, and ran as fast as they could away from Vader. Everyone who had averted their eyes to the scene quickly averted them back in case they were to inherit the dark lord’s wrath.

He knew the way to the cantina and headed in that direction, turning down a semi-empty street with the occasional walking bystander.

An attractive young woman turned the corner. She had brown eyes, long, curly brunette hair that shined in the sun, pink luscious lips and she had on this beautiful white dress that, with the addition of the sun, made her look like an angel. She looked kind, warm-hearted, and had the look of someone who cared, even about the most insignificant person in the galaxy. She looked at Vader and did something that surprised him. She smiled at him. It was warm and distracted from everything else. She was—

Two giant men grabbed her and pulled her into the alleyway. Her screams were muffled by the giant hand of her attackers. She saw Vader with her widened eyes and screamed louder, but nothing, but muffled noises were heard by him. Anakin Skywalker would have saved her and cut off their hands while he was at it, but Vader…

He looked directly at her for a long moment, then turned and walked away.

The outside of the Cantina was packed with speeders and even a pod racer. All kinds of people were gathered, showing off their rides or entering the cantina itself.

Just like before, everyone turned to stare at the dark lord, make their judgment, then look away.

He walked into the cantina. The music was loud like in all bars, full of many different species that were either drunk or soon to be drunk; people shouting and slamming their drinks onto the counters after drinking them.

The bartender was human and old and looked at Vader with a look of weary and confusion. “I’m looking for someone. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Have you seen him?” For a moment, he didn’t answer, still trying to understand who, or rather what, the dark lord was. “Kenobi, have you seen him?”

“Um—No. I don’t know anyone by that name, but I would ask the Toydarian Watto.”

Watto

“He deals with a lot of newcomers due to his work. He was just in here but went to do some business in the back with a Trandoshan.”

Trandoshan’s. He hated them as much as he hated Toydarian’s.

Vader walked away without thanking the man and made his way through the crowd, pushing past a man and an extraordinary large Bith.

“Hey!”

Vader stopped.

“You bumped into me.”

“And?”

He looked at his partner with a bewildered look and back at Vader. “You sure got some nerve on you. What even are you?” He looked at Vader in his metallic eyes, “You are ugly,” he growled.

_Swoosh_

His lightsaber impaled the skinny man. The music stopped, and everyone looked over to see the commotion. The man’s eyes were wide, and his face looked like he tried to scream, but nothing came out. The Bith, who before stood over the dark lord, scampered away in fear. After a few moments, the music began to play again, and everyone went to do what they were doing before.

Vader made his way to the back door, opened it and found Watto and the Trandoshan the bartender talked about. In the Trandoshan’s hand was a clear glass tube with a purple rock inside of it and in Watto’s hand was a pile of currency.

They both quickly hid what they had in their hands and turned to face Vader.

“Leave us,” he told the Trandoshan. “Me and this Toydarian have business to discuss.”

“Get lost, you freak.”

“I don’t know you,” Watto replied angrily.

“I said leave.” With a raise of his finger, the Trandoshan launched backward twenty feet and hit the wall opposite of them. He groaned for a moment, then fell limp.

“Who… What are you?” Watto said, backing away with fear.

“Do you know where Obi-Wan Kenobi is?”

“Who? I don’t know who that is.”

Vader ignited his crimson red lightsaber, the only noise that of the cackle of his blade, until he broke the silence. “Obi-Wan Kenobi, where is he? Answer now or die.”

“Okay okay! I don’t know an Obi-Wan Kenobi, but I know a Ben Kenobi! He lives on the outskirts of town that way. It’s the only house in that direction, you won’t miss him.”

Vader retracted his lightsaber and Watto let off a relieved sigh. “Thank you,” he said, breathing heavily.

Shmi.

She died because of him, because the Jedi wouldn’t let him get her when he was strong enough and because Watto…

She died in her arms after being tortured by the Sand People. They were dead, the Jedi were dead, now… Watto was the only thing that remained that was at fault for her death.

Watto suddenly found himself unable to breathe, being dragged up slowly through the air and at the mercy of Lord Vader. “Pl..e.a…se,” he barely got out through his choking.

“You will pay for the death of Shmi Skywalker.”

“Who?”

After a long silence, Vader said, “My mother.”

“Your mother… A—Ani?”

Vader impaled him with his lightsaber and watched as his lifeless bug body hit the sand floor. He stared at it for a moment. It was like seeing a ghost, he never thought… Kenobi, that was what mattered now. He stepped over his body and made his way to the outskirts of town.

It was dusk. Everyone was either at home or heading home. It was dangerous during the day but deadly at night. Vader wasn’t scared, however. All he cared about was getting closer to his goal.

The two suns had retreated into hiding as the moon slowly emerged from its daily hibernation.

The temperature readings on Vader’s suit had dropped to thirty-seven degrees Fahrenheit, but Vader’s suit protected him from simple planetary conditions.

He made his way through the desert; each step being consumed by the sand. It was like a giant weight pushing down on his feet until he lifted them up again and took his next step but every time it was the same.

None of it fazed Vader, however. Whatever he had to endure, whoever he had to kill, it didn’t matter as long as he got to Kenobi.

A large hum came from his left. A lone Sandcrawler buzzed through the empty desert. The yellow eyes of the Jawa’s could be seen through the Sandcrawler’s windows. They looked out on Vader like he was some magical spectacle until eventually, he was out of their sight.

“Disgusting creatures,” he said.

A loud, unimaginable scowling scream came at him. A Gaffi stick clanked against his metallic suit. It was like a harpoon, but for land. It had the fletching’s of an arrow at the end of stick and a spike encompassed by a blade on the other end. He forced pushed his attacker down the sandhill, and when he got up, he was surrounded by six Tuskan Raiders.

He reached for his lightsaber and found it was missing. It must have fell when he was attacked.

“I do not need a lightsaber to kill you.”

Their scream screeched Vader’s ears and echoed throughout the desert until it stopped suddenly, and they began their attack.

Vader dodged the attack of a raider, hitting him with his fist and knocking him to the ground. Another came at him, and before he could touch Vader, Vader forced pushed him away. One jumped on his back, and Vader grabbed him by his arms and pulled him down in front of him and, with his foot, broke his neck.

A single Tuskan Raider sat at the edge of the dune, waiting. When Vader was distracted by an incoming attack by one of the raiders and his weapon, the lone raider got up and ran for Vader, swiping at his leg with his Gaffi stick and causing Vader to fall onto his knees.

The raider raised his weapon and struck Vader.

Vader screamed in pain. The remaining Tuskan Raiders piled onto him and bombarded him with attacks.

The strikes were sharp and came at Vader with unrepented speed. “Enough of this.” he screamed. The sand burst into the air, throwing the attackers in different directions and then stopping them in midair.

They were all gasping for air. “Now, you all die,” he growled. He stepped forward, stopping at a nonindigenous clank at his boot. He looked down and found his lightsaber buried in the sand. He picked it up and ignited it. “You are animals, and I will slaughter you like animals.”

One by one he pulled the raiders toward him, and one by one, their bodies fell to the floor.

* * *

It was daylight when Vader reached the home of the supposed Ben Kenobi.

He inspected the damage on his suit one last time. Exposed wires he had stuffed back into his casing kept coming back out.

The door opened, and out came a man in a hooded robe. Vader could not see his face, but he could see his eyes, his sad blue eyes. They betrayed him.

“Who are you, stranger?” the man asked.

Vader did not say a word. He grabbed his lightsaber and ignited it.


	6. Vader Vs Kenobi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vader finally comes face to face with his old master, and after a few spoken words, they face off as they did on Mustafar but now as two completely different people.

The flame turned on with the spark of a match. He placed his kettle over the open flame and sat next to his robe that lay by the chest full of items he dared not to open. He sighed, “Oh, Anakin. Why?”

He buried his head in his hands, pressing them against his head. He thought it would relieve his stress, but it made it all the way worse.

Every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was Anakin’s half-body being burned alive and his screams. They echoed in his mind like a broken record.

_“I HATE YOU!”_

There was nothing he could have done. Anakin was already lost.

“Shoot!” He said, quickly getting up and running over to the cabinet by the fridge. He opened it, reaching his arm in it and frantically searching. “Darn it, no sugar. Better run to the market.”

He pulled on his robe and hid his lightsaber in his hilt, covered by the brown tunic. He opened the door and walked outside but stopped. He felt a cold shiver go down his spine and to his feet.

A _being_ in black stood before him. It was mostly machine, but Kenobi could sense a live being within it. Wires poked out from his left shoulder, and he could feel the anger radiating off him, but yet, there was something familiar about it. Too familiar.

“Who are you, stranger?” he asked. Without a second’s delay, the creature pulled out his lightsaber and ignited it to show its crimson red color. His eyes furrowed together. “You are Sith,” he said. “Why are you here?” Was he here for the child? _No, it couldn’t be. He was hidden. Whatever the reason, I will not let him get to the boy._ He placed his hand over his lightsaber but not yet igniting it.

“Do you not remember me, Kenobi?” He growled at the words Kenobi as if he was his mortal enemy.

“So, you know who I am. What is it that you want?”

“Revenge!” His anger multiplied. It was like being behind a ship taking off, Kenobi could barely keep it from blowing him away, but he controlled his senses, letting the light shine through and anchor him.

He opened his eyes, “You do not want this fight,” he told the mysterious cyborg. “Leave, or I will do what I must.”

“As you did on Mustafar.”

Mustafar.

How, who… what— “Who are you?!” he yelled.

“You will pay for what you did to Padme, to my child, you will pay.”

His eyes widened at the same time his heart stopped. _Could he be_ … _No, no. It can’t be, not him. I— no one could have survived that but… could it.. could it be him? Brother, could it be you_?

Obi-Wan tried to let out the words he was thinking, but he found that only one word came from his mouth, the one word he never thought he would say to his old friend ever again. “Anakin?”

* * *

“Anakin?”

His heart skipped a beat when he said that name. _That name_. He furrowed his brows, though Obi-Wan couldn’t see it, he was sure he could feel his anger.

“That name means nothing to me. I am no longer Anakin Skywalker. I am Darth Vader—”

He looked at Vader with sorrowful eyes, “What did they do to you, Anakin?”

“YOU DID THIS TO ME!” Four hundred and seventy-six was his heartbeat. His suit read him at a hundred-and twelve-degrees Fahrenheit, far more than any living being should be able to reach.

“Anakin, please. I did what I had to. What you became, what you did, I had no choice.”

“You had a choice,” Vader growled at him. “Now, you will pay for that choice.”

He pointed his blade at his old master and readied his stance.

“Anakin, don’t do this. Not again.”

“Fight me or die.”

Kenobi sighed, closing his eyes, then opening them, his brows snapping together.

His robe fell to the floor, and he ignited his blue lightsaber. It cackled alongside Vader’s. He raised his blade parallel to his head and pointed it towards him.

“I will do what I must.”

“You will try.”

Vader ran for Kenobi, but Kenobi did not move, did not avert in any way but waited for him to strike, so he did.

He struck his blade downward, and Kenobi blocked it, clearly struggling. Vader may be more machine than man, but he had the strength of a Wookie. Obi-Wan pushed him off him. He jumped back, and Obi-Wan got into his stance once more.

“Anakin, please stop. This won’t end well.”

He lunged at Kenobi and swiped at him with his blade, but Kenobi got out the way, throwing force push at him. Vader went barreling through the door, breaking it. He got up quickly, turning around to see a blue blade coming at him. He dodged, his cape being cut in half, out the way.

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes onto Vader’s feet, slicing downward at them, but Vader jumped.

Obi-Wan was much faster than him. He needed a way to slow him down.

Vader smirked. He had just the idea. He buried his hand in the sand, causing the sand to explode upward.

* * *

Sand got into his eyes. He had no time to clean them as he heard footsteps coming at him. He raised his blade. Anakin’s footsteps were being muddled by the sand; he couldn’t tell where he was but…

“The force is with me.” He stood still and waited. Anakin’s footsteps were coming and—

He blocked his attack, force pushing him back ten feet. He cleaned his eyes and saw a downed Anakin struggling to get up. Now was his chance. He didn’t want to do this, but he had to.

With the force, he launched into the air thirty feet and at Anakin.

* * *

Vader had lost his lightsaber when Kenobi had pushed him. When he looked up, Kenobi was gone and, in the air, barreling down towards him.

Vader rolled out the way. Kenobi landed; sand being blown from its rightful resting place. Kenobi was in front of him, and he had no lightsaber.

His heart was pounding. He couldn’t lose now.

With all his might, he force pushed everything in front of him, sending Kenobi, and everything around them, hurdling backwards.

In all of the commotion, Vader saw his lightsaber. He flung at it and towards Kenobi, who was still recouping from Vader’s last attack. Vader struck Obi-Wan’s blue blade with his. He was pushing down hard, and he could see Obi-Wan losing his grip.

Kenobi raised his hand, force pulling the door Anakin had broken before at him, causing him to fall onto his stomach. They both got up quickly, and Anakin bombarded him with constant, unrelenting jabs with all the force he could muster.

Vader was breathing heavily, and whatever human parts he had left felt exhausted all the while, Obi-Wan looked like he was barely breaking a sweat.

“Don’t make me repeat history, Anakin.”

“Don’t call me that!” He lunged at Obi-Wan, their sabers clashed with a crackling frenzy. They both pressed against each other’s strength, but neither gave in.

“What should I call you then? This Lord Vader? The dark lord of the Sith? You betrayed everything you stood for!”

“AHHHHH!” He pushed down harder on his blade, forcing Obi-Wan to bend his knees.

“You betrayed Padme—”

“Don’t speak her name. You took her away from me, turned her against me. YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!”

“You did that yourself.”

Obi-Wan pushed Vader’s blade to the side, causing Vader to tumble onto his knees.

* * *

“She loved you, Anakin, and she died loving you. If only she could see the _monster_ you have become.”

Anakin erupted into a scream that Obi-Wan had heard only once before on the lava planet of Mustafar.

It was all too much for him. To have to fight his brother again was more than his already broken heart could manage. After Satine, all he had left was Anakin, but soon, he left him too.

Anakin came at him. He was slow, not as fast he was before, before he was this _thing_ , and could see every attack coming from a mile away.

His attacks had no form behind them, no strategy. They were random, angry attacks that were followed by his clear exhaustion.

Anakin grunted, slashing at him with an attack that caught them both off guard when Obi-Wan parried it. Anakin stumbled; he had another opening. Obi-Wan slashed his blue blade at him before Anakin could dodge it.

It struck his face, revealing one of his yellow eyes.

Obi-Wan stood motionless at the pale white skin of his old friend.

* * *

“Anakin…” he said slowly, his eyes widened at the reveal of his new face. “Look at you. You allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind. Look at what you have become, what you did. Padme would never have wanted this—”

“Don’t say her name. She hates me—She’s dead because of you!”

“Anakin, I didn’t kill her. She loved you, she died—”

“Shut up!” He sliced downward, missing his target, then upward, cutting a piece of Obi-Wan’s clothing. “You’re the reason she died.”

“Anakin, you chocked her in your anger. Is that what your newfound powers were supposed to accomplish? The death of your wife?”

Padme.

She was choking on the platform, but he felt her; she was alive. He couldn’t have killed her… he killed her. Obi-Wan, it’s his fault.

He lunged at Obi-Wan, crossing blades once more. He looked into his eyes, and all he could see was the image of Padme. Her beautiful smile, her brunette hair, and her lips. He loved her lips.

His child, he didn’t even know the name, died alongside his wife because of _his_ failures.

“Anakin, listen to me. Padme loved you; she died loving you.”

“She died thinking I was a monster because of you.”

“No, Anakin, because she saw what you became.”

Was it his fault? _Stop it_ , he told himself.

Vader grabbed Obi-Wan by the neck, squeezing hard and forcing him to the sandy ground.

* * *

Even though he was in scrutinizing pain, one thought went through his mind. Why Anakin, why did you do all this? Even though he knew, why didn’t he come to him for help? Why?

Everything started to go black. With all his might, he couldn’t force Anakin off him. His eyes began to roll behind his head.

His body went limp; his lightsaber fell from his hand, and within a fraction of a second, it cut at Anakin’s foot.

* * *

Vader fell to the floor, screaming. Obi-Wan got up, coughing and grabbed his blade, and towered above Vader and, with a look of regret, brought down his blade over his head. Vader lifted his arm, using the force to keep the lightsaber from striking him.

His left arm began to short-circuit, sparks were flying out, and his ability to keep it up was failing. He couldn’t give up now, not when he was so close. He pushed harder, trying to break his old master’s strength, but he wasn’t giving in.

He was losing.

_No, no, no!_

“AHHHHHH!” Vader’s screams echoed through the desert.

He let go, Kenobi’s blade cutting off his robotic arm, but he didn’t scream. Instead, he ignited his lightsaber, but now with one arm and a single foot, and pressed it once more against Kenobi’s.

“Anakin, is this what you wanted?”

No, he didn’t want this. He wanted his wife, his child, and his brother beside him, but that reality crumbled when _he_ got in the way.

“Anakin, I’m sorry. It is my fault, I failed you, and for that, I am so so sorry.”

His eyes widened, what did he just say?

“Anakin, I know why you did it, but let me tell you one thing.” Vader’s eyes glared into Obi-Wan’s. “Anakin, it was Palpatine who fed you those dreams. Palpatine who drained Padme of her essence so she would die.”

_What?_ “How do you even know that?”

“Yoda, before we parted ways, meditated and saw what you saw. The visions of her death in childbirth. Anakin, there is a Sith shrine underneath the Jedi Temple where Palpatine forced those visions inside your head, and when she died, Palpatine was at that shrine, stealing her life force. Yoda saw it all.”

“No, it can’t be.. not him. He’s… he’s my—”

“Anakin, he played you. He played us all.”

There was no way Palpatine killed her. He cared for him like a son… he couldn’t have.

_“Lord Vader, can you hear me?”_

_There was a moments silence, “Yes, my master. Where is Padme? Is she safe? Is she alright?”_

_“It seems, in your anger, you killed her.”_

_“I—I couldn’t have. She was alive; I felt it.” She’s dead; my love is dead, my child. No. No. NO!_

_Vader broke from his restraints, not aware of what was going on around him, destroying everything. The droids, the light fixtures, the table that held him just a moment ago were all crumbling._

_He screamed, “NOOOOOOOO!”_

_Palpatine was behind him smiling, menacingly. He was happy._

He did it. He did it. “That no good—”

Palpatine, he betrayed him, used him. He couldn’t—why? Why did this have to happen to him? He just wanted to be with Padme and his child. He didn’t want any of this, not this Sith life or being this machine. He just wanted his wife, his family.

Vader stopped, pulling his lightsaber away. Obi-Wan held his lightsaber firm in front of him.

“Padme loved you, she always did. She died thinking you have good inside you—”

_She did_? _No_. “She hates me…” he was breathing heavily. He looked down onto the sandy floor, then back up at Obi-Wan. “It doesn’t matter how she feels, she’s dead.”

“It’s not too late to avenge her, to make Sidious pay for what he did.”

All this, it was too much. His head felt like it was going to explode. He had all this anger, all this hate, and he didn’t know what to do with it.

“Let it go, Anakin. Let it go.”

He stood motionless. _Padme, my dear, my child… I am so sorry._ He looked up at Obi-Wan, at his old friend. What had he done? He fell to the floor, tears rolling down his face. “I’m so sorry.” He looked up at Obi-Wan with his blue eyes, and Obi-Wan looked back onto him with the same sad blue eyes they had greeted him with earlier. “Master…”


	7. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Obi-Wan finally are on the same page, but their relationship is not the same as it once was.

“Master, what have I done?”

“Oh, Anakin…” The look in his eye told him he didn’t have an answer for him. How could he? What could Obi-Wan say to make him feel any better?

“The things I did, I can never make them up. I’m so sorry.”

“Anakin…” Obi-Wan said with dejection eyes.

“What do I do, master?”

They stood in silence for neither knew how long until Obi-Wan said, “Get up, Anakin.”

He looked at his old friend, confused, “What?”

“That’s what you need to do. Get up.”

“But…”

“Just do it, Anakin.” Anakin, with his one leg, stood up with the help of his old friend. Obi-Wan took him inside and sat him next to the chest he was afraid to open.

The kettle began to screech, and smoke came out from its top to indicate it was ready. Obi-Wan used the force and placed it on the floor.

He looked back at Anakin, who still had tears running down his face.

“I was so blind by the fact to save Padme that I fed into Palpatine’s lies. I’m such an idiot.” He was too afraid to look up at his old master, afraid of what his eyes might say to him.

Obi-Wan placed his hand onto Anakin’s metallic shoulder, causing Anakin to unintentionally look up at his old friend. It was just as he thought. His eyes were angry. “What is it, master?”

His eyes narrowed a bit, then relaxed. “Nothing.” He wasn’t too sure it was nothing. “We need to fix you up, Anakin. I’ll head into town and grab some materials to fix you up.”

“I can come to,” Anakin said.

“No,” he shouted. He looked back onto Anakin, sighing. “I mean, you’re in no condition to move. You should stay here and rest.”

“I suppose you’re right, master.”

“Just get some rest. I’ll be back soon.”

Obi-Wan left out of the destroyed entryway that had broken during their fight. He heard Obi-Wan whistle, silence for a few minutes, then the sounds of hooves getting closer and closer until they eventually got further away, and he couldn’t hear them anymore.

He was alone and afraid.

He coughed. It felt like he was getting a cold.

Anakin looked down onto his broken body. He hated it. He hated what he had become. “A Sith,” he said, snarling at the words Sith. “How could I?” He buried his head into his hands.

It was his fault he was like this, no one else’s. It was his fault Padme was dead, not Obi-Wan’s. He who marched into the Jedi Temple with the 501st and slaughtered younglings.

Just the thought of that alone made him want to puke. “How could I commit such atrocities?” he asked himself, begging for an answer that did not come.

He felt lightheaded.

Then on came the feeling of being too heavy and hot. It was like he couldn’t breathe, like water was collecting in his lungs blocking air from reaching him and the rest of his body.

His suit’s internal readings, though it was damaged, said he was still receiving air.

Sweat beads began to form on his pale white skin, and his breathing was sharp, quick breaths. Each breath he took felt like a knife stabbing him in his chest.

Force choke was the first thought he had when trying to describe what was going on. His hands navigated to his neck as everything started to go black inch by inch.

“Obi…Wan.”

A loud thump came when his body hit the floor.

* * *

Obi-Wan rode atop of his Bantha. He had acquired him when a Tuskan Raider was beating it with a long thick rope. Obi-Wan couldn’t just stand by and watch it happen, so he intervened, rescuing Nalu from his abuser.

At least he could save someone in time.

His apology didn’t matter now; it didn’t. It was too late.

* * *

He opened his eyes and saw nothing but unending blackness. “Where am I? Obi-Wan, are you here?”

_“You must choose!”_

“Huh?” It sounded like an echo in the distance.

_“Don’t listen to him, Anakin!”_

An apparition of the night before Order 66 appeared, when he, Windu, and the Chancellor were fighting.

_“He must stand trial!”_

_Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber was blinded by the Emperor’s lightning._

_“Don’t let him kill me.”_

Anakin tried to move, but his feet stood in their exact place. “I can change it!” he screamed. “Please, let me change it!”

_“He’s too dangerous to be kept alive.”_

_“I’m too weak. Don’t kill me, please.”_

_“It’s not the Jedi way. He must live!”_

_Windu gave Anakin a vexed look, his eyes turning a slight yellow._

_“Please don’t.”_

_“I need him!”_

_Windu raised his blade, and with one last look, he moved his blade to strike down the Supreme Chancellor._

_“Noooo,” Anakin’s blue lightsaber hacked off Windu’s hand._

_Windu screamed, shouting as his lightsaber fell to the depths of Coruscant. He looked at his now severed hand, looking back onto the now revealed Sith Lord and Anakin Skywalker._

_Sidious smiled with an evil grin and shouted, “Unlimited power!”_

“No, please, don’t make me relive through this again.” He fell to the floor crying, “I don’t want to go through this again.”

The apparition disappeared in front of him like water evaporating.

“I’m so sorry.” His cries broke the silence that ensued right after. He was alone, and he believed that’s how he should remain for the rest of his life. Broken, sad, alone.

_“You’re late again.”_

No.

_“Padme, I’m so sorry. We didn’t predict the outer rim sieges lasting this long._

Not her. Anyone but her.

_“That’s why they call it a siege, Anakin.”_

Her hands covered that little bump on her stomach. How could he have not noticed it before? “My child, my wife, both dead…”

_“I love you, Ani.”_

_“I love you too.”_

He smiled; that’s how he wanted his life to be, with his wife and child.

They both disappeared slowly, their smile the last thing to go.

“She always had a beautiful smile,” he said.

_“You’re breaking my heart.”_

His stomach dropped to the floor, his heart beating faster than before. “No, not this.” He was scared to turn around, to see what he was hiding from. “I don’t want to relive this. Anything but this.”

* * *

No one was out of their house when Obi-Wan arrived at Mos Espa. He only saw the lights of the guards patrolling the streets.

He mounted his Bantha at a hitching post that was right outside of town. The other Bantha’s were already fast asleep as their owners were inside their homes.

He walked down the street to Watto’s junkyard, which was conveniently placed in the middle of town. Watto was always willing to do business no matter what time of day, if you had the right price that was.

The streets were deserted at this time of night, the cantina’s closed, and not even the homeless dared to sleep outside. It felt like a ghost town. If Obi-Wan didn’t know better, he would think this place was abandoned.

He went up to Watto’s door and knocked. After a few moments, he knocked again, and after a few minutes, he figured he wasn’t home.

Three guards turned down the street Kenobi was on. Kenobi walked up to them, giving off that warm smile of his.

“Excuse me?”

The guards turned. “Can we help you?” one of them asked.

“Yes, I’m looking for the Toydarian Watto. He doesn’t seem to be home. Do any of you know where he is?” The guards all took nervous glances at each other. “Is… is something the matter?”

“Watto is dead.”

Obi-Wan widened his eyes, “Dead? Who killed him?”

“A machine in black.” _Anakin_. “That’s what the witnesses say.” _Anakin, come on_. “We’re currently on the lookout for him, but it’s not safe for you to be walking about at this time. You should head home.”

Obi-Wan looked at them, then at the door to Watto’s Junkyard, then said. “Oh, thank you, gentlemen. I shall be on my way then.”

He walked off, seemingly to the guards towards the edge of town where his mount was, but when he turned the corner, he jumped onto the roof of the nearby building. _Anakin_ , he thought, shaking his head. _Why do you always have to make everything so complicated?_

* * *

“Padme, I’m sorry!”

_“Let her go, Anakin. Let her go.”_

_He released his grip, watching as Padme’s body fell to the floor._

“My baby…”

_“You turned her against me!”_

“I was such an idiot. I did that myself.”

_“You did that yourself._

“Why didn’t I listen to him? Why?”

* * *

When the guards turned the corner, Obi-Wan came out of hiding and walked up Watto’s door. He grabbed his lightsaber, almost igniting it but stopping himself as he realized cutting the door down would get the Empire’s attention, but he had a better idea.

He looked around, the street was empty, and jumped onto the roof to Watto’s junkyard. There were antennas on the roof for communication, dead bugs, spider webs, and feces. A lot of feces. “Does no one ever clean this place?” Obi-Wan grimaced.

He jumped down into the junkyard. It was full of podracers, blown up starships, and even a few republic fighters. Obi-Wan saw R4 units, broken protocol droids, and a bunch of B1 battle droids. “When I thought the war was over, it comes right back to haunt me,” he sighed.

Anakin was missing an arm, a leg, and his face mask was damaged. Maybe he could find something to fix that, but it wasn’t a priority.

Obi-Wan stared onto the endless piles of junk Watto had acquired. “Where do I even start?”

* * *

“I should be dead,” Anakin cried. “Let me die.”

“Then die.” Vader appeared before him but not the Vader in the suit, the Vader before Mustafar. His eyes were pure yellow, and his charred skin had been replaced by his old skin complexation, with hands and feet, and he had the look of evil written all over his face. “Die, you pathetic fool.”

Anakin faced him like a child would to their mother or father, but he didn’t see the boundless love they would have for their child, but instead the wrath of a home intruder.

“You killed Padme. You killed the Jedi. You killed Anakin Skywalker a long time ago. You don’t deserve to live.”

“I can redeem myself,” Anakin said to his dark side. “I can fix it!”

“You couldn’t even save your wife. How can you fix things now?”

“I…”

* * *

Obi-Wan pulled out the hand of a gray protocol droid from the junkpile he had been searching for the last five minutes, but he couldn’t find the rest of the body. “A shame, I could have used its leg.”

He walked on, checking the junkpile right next to it.

“Come on,” he said, getting increasingly more impatient. He found nothing but wires, the arm of a super battle droid. He stopped, picturing if Anakin could use this to a purpose. “Probably not.” He tossed the arm of the battle droid aside, going back to search the rest of the garbage.

An old blaster, nuts and bolts, more wires, the severed arm of a human. “An arm!” Obi-Wan threw it to the side, “Who’s arm is that?” He almost let out another burst but calmed himself, closing his eyes, breathing in and out slowly, then opening them. “Disgusting.”

He looked down, and a smile went on his face as he grabbed the metal sheet that was below the arm. “I can use this to repair Anakin’s face.”

He got up, wiping away the dirt from his clothing. He looked out onto the remaining junk, “How did Watto get anything done?” he said, turning the corner to find more piles of junk.

He stopped suddenly. He felt something… he wasn’t sure what it was. Like, something calling to him—

His eyes grew suddenly, “Yoda.”

He sat down, getting in a meditative posture, and closed his eyes, focusing on that feeling.

“Master Yoda, are you there? Can you hear me?”

“M-s-er Ke-bi.”

“Master, the force, I can’t understand what you are saying.”

“Clo-ed is th force. Come to Dagobah. Bring Skywalker.”

The feeling was gone as soon as it came. “Dagobah.” He wasn’t surprised Yoda knew about Anakin, but he wanted him to come to Dagobah; why? They were hiding. “But if Master Yoda says to come, then I shall listen.” _If only Anakin had done the same_.

He sighed. “It’s his fault,” he told himself. “Why didn’t he just listen to me when I told him that Palpatine was evil.” He shook his head, sighing once more.

The sound of metal scraping the ground came when he took his next step. It was a droid’s foot, to which droid he didn’t know. He grabbed it, a gleeful smile on his face, “Finally, something goes my way.”

* * *

“Do it! Kill yourself.”

“But…”

“You can see Padme again. She’s waiting for you.” He extended his arm, and an image of Padme appeared. She was in her white gown, and her hair was braided the way he always loved. She looked at him and smiled, pulling out her arms and calling him towards her.

“Anakin, come to me,” she said with a welcoming smile.

“Padme,” he said, utterly broken.

“Come to me, Ani. It’s time.”

His lightsaber appeared next to him, the one built from Proxy’s components.

“Take your blade and kill yourself. Do it!”

He grabbed it, looking at it and twirling it in his hands. Is this what he wanted? What he was supposed to do? After everything he’s done, was this what he deserved? If he could see Padme again… That’s all he wanted, him and Padme to be together.

He lifted the blade up to his face and pointed the emitter towards him. His finger loomed over the button.

“Do it now!”

He closed his eyes and went for it—

“Stop it, Ani!” He stopped, his finger touching the button only barely. He opened his eyes to find Padme in front of him. Not the Padme from earlier but a different one. She was in the same white gown.

“Padme?” He looked over and found the other Padme was gone.

“No! Leave now. He must end his life!”

She turned around, glared at him with the intensity of a thousand suns, and said, “Shut up,” and waved her arm, causing the evil version of Anakin to disappear.

“Padme, what’s going on.”

She looked at him; her eyes were wide and wet. She placed her hand on his suit, “You’ve changed, Ani.” He looked away, not able to bear to look her in the eyes anymore. “Look at me, Ani. Please.”

He looked at her. She smiled, “Ani, you can’t give up now.”

“But the things I did.”

“I know, Ani, and that’s why you need to make it right.”

His heart hurt, “I just don’t know if I can this time.”

“You can. I believe in you.”

_Those words, after everything, she still believed in me._

She smiled, slightly laughing, “I can hear your thoughts, Ani.”

_Of course, you can_. He smiled.

“I love you, Ani.”

“I love you too, Padme.” They hugged, and she slowly disappeared from this plane of existence, and Anakin had only noticed when his body fell through where she once stood.

His smile gave away. He wanted more time with her.

Everything began to shake; the ground below him began to crumble, revealing a white light when he fell through. He tried to scream, but nothing came out as he fell at an unknown speed.

He woke up. He was on the floor of the broken hut. He got up, sitting in the chair Obi-Wan had left him in. It was much more challenging with one leg. “My head hurts,” he said.

He looked over at his lightsaber.

“No more.” He extended his hand and grabbed his lightsaber, looking at it once more, and crushing it. Bits and pieces of Proxy’s dismembered body fell to the floor to reveal the crystal.

He hated it. The red, how it represented his hatred, he hated to see it.

He squeezed it, and to his surprise, it broke into dust.

“What?” he said. He stared at it long, confused. “How?”

“It’s what happens when someone from the dark side comes back to the light.”

Anakin turned to see Obi-Wan standing at the door. “I don’t, I don’t understand, master.”

Obi-Wan laid down his rucksack onto the table. “A Sith’s crystal uses the users’ anger to power itself; it harnesses the users’ anger. During the bleeding process, the crystal and its user become one. Remember Anakin, in a way, the crystals are alive.” Anakin remembered when Yoda used to tell him that when he went to Ilum for the gathering as a padawan. “They call to us because they are connected to us, just like the Sith are connected to their crystal, but the Sith turn their crystals into something that’s it’s not supposed to be, causing it to destroy itself to become a Sith’s weapon.

“If the user turns back to the light, the crystal has nothing to harness on and can no longer sustain itself to keep it alive.”

“So, the crystal dies?”

“In a sense, yes.”

“I see…” He looked down at the red dust in his hand for a moment then let it go, both Obi-Wan and Anakin watching as it fell to the floor. “I need a new weapon.”

Obi-Wan smiled, “I can help with that.”

* * *

Obi-Wan brought the chest to Anakin, the chest he was afraid to open. He opened, inspecting the one item he kept inside it for a final time, then handed it to his old padawan.

“My lightsaber,” Anakin said.

* * *

“I can’t believe you kept it.” He grabbed it, inspect each grove as if he hadn’t seen it in years. It was shiny and had no markings to indicate it had ever been used. “You cleaned it.”

“Of course, I did.”

“Why?”

Obi-Wan tilted his head, though he did not know he was doing it. “Excuse me?”

“Why did you keep it?”

“I uh—” Obi-Wan averted his eyes, looking down onto the floor, then saying, “Let’s get you fixed up.”

He walked up to the table, opening the rucksack he had brought and taking out his findings.

Anakin went back to his lightsaber. He had so many memories with it, so many victories, and so much blood.

He sighed, “I will fix it.”

“What was that?” his master asked.

“Nothing, master.”

He went to ignite it, hovering over the button. He was scared. What if it found him not worthy to wield anymore, but then Padme’s voice echoed in his head. _I believe in you_. It made him smile. He forced away his fears and ignited his blade. The intense blue light shined throughout the entire room, and blue was all that could be seen from an outsider’s perspective.

“I missed you.”

“I am glad you have, now put it away. I need to fix you up.”

The blue receded back inside the casing, and Anakin put it on the table. Obi-Wan grabbed a melder and lifted Anakin’s foot, aligning the droid’s foot with his broken one. “I’m not as good as you, Anakin, so it might be a crude job.”

“Thank you, master.”

Obi-Wan started up the melder, a flame coming out of it to indicate it was melding the two metal pieces together. His heart palpitated as he glared onto Obi-Wan as he repaired his foot. He would look away, glance at Obi-Wan, then away to the side every few seconds. He was tapping the desk, and he didn’t notice he was until Obi-Wan said it was blocking him from concentrating. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he opened his mouth to speak multiple times but stopped himself every single time.

“Anakin, I can sense your unease. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, master.”

“If you say so.”

He was silent, then said, “Master?”

“Yes, Anakin?”

“I’m sorr—”

“You don’t have to say you’re sorry. I know you are.”

“But master—”

“Anakin,” he snapped. “You don’t need to say anything. I know what you want to say. It’s _okay_.” Anakin didn’t reply. “It wouldn’t fix anything anyway,” he mumbled under his breath.

He didn’t know if Obi-Wan wanted him to hear it or not, but he guessed it didn’t matter. Either way, it hurt.

“There, give me your hand.”

_“It wouldn’t fix anything_. _”_ He was sure he meant for him to hear it.


End file.
